Establishing Emotional Connections & Personal Interactions Between Brand & Consumer

The methods to reach consumers have expanded over time and consumers have grown tired of the proliferation of advertising and marketing intrusions. Hence, the popularity of TiVo, Pop-Up blockers, Opt-Out and Do- Not –Call. Yet, consumers will respond to marketing initiatives that humanize their experience with the brand and establish a personal and meaningful connection.

The current marketplace offers many innovative ways to establish a positive connection through advertising, in-store, on-site events and the web.

1. Advertising: My list of the top Super Bowl ads includes Coke-“Mean Joe Green”, Budweiser Clydesdales “Respect” ad, the subsequent “Heroes” ad, and the most recent 2009 Budweiser “Fetch” ad. They all have an “emotional” human component as do the Hallmark commercials for special occasions and any commercial that makes me laugh or just plain feel good.
2. Technology: Brand-specific web sites that allow for customers to build cumulative value over time, surveys, loyalty club, tell-a-friend, and community. Connect with consumers on multiple levels and encourage frequent, habit- forming interaction. Many marketers encourage consumers to “enter once a day” for the duration of a Sweepstakes program to bring them back to their site.
3. Retail: The Intellifit Design Studio is a pop-up store that includes a virtual fitting room, samples of products and swatches for look and feel, customers can create and purchase custom made products –both off-line and on-line. More at: http://www.it-fits.info/CustomApparelCenter.asp. Another custom site is: IndiDenim.com. Trendwatching.com talks about British clothing chain TopShop that has installed self-photography. Customers can check their pose in a large mirror and receive a digital photograph. Build-A-Bear Workshop allows consumers to create their own bear and other stuffed animals by choosing stuff, stitch, fluff and dress: http://www.buildabear.com/aboutUs/contactUs/findastore
4. Experiential: Experiential event marketing is effective across many product categories and across gender and age. Destinations include shopping malls, local fairs, concerts, sports arenas, transportation terminals and heavily trafficked rush hour locations. This marketing tactic allows consumers to participate in an “experience” where they can try a product in conjunction with some form of entertainment or event with friends. Cell phones (text-messaging campaigns at select venues), cars (parked outside lifestyle events and venues) or special invitation test -drive venues that include food and fun are some examples.

Personalize my experience with your brand. Emotional and meaningful connections will build brand loyalty and should guide marketing initiatives.

Post via Marden-Kane Vice President Rosemary Stein from our Chicago office. Rosemary can be reached at Rosemary@MardenKane.com.

Rethinking Your Homepage?

With over 250 million users, has the time come to migrate the corporate web site (and by extension, the brand and promotion microsites) to Facebook?

At the moment, it makes perfect sense:

1. Companies / brands can now get vanity Facebook URL's
   
2. Available publishing tools, many of which are free, limits spend and the need to utilize in-house technical or agency resources.


3. Conversations can be continuous


4. Acquired Fans can be rewarded (or remarketed to) with special and/or targeted offers, rewards and promotions (see my earlier post on Starbucks). Fans can also easily "share" information with their friends and family, etc. This sharing extends the reach further and perhaps includes a "qualifying" message from the sender.


5. Content is dynamic (versus static web copy) with the business user (a resource in Marketing, PR, etc.) responsible for its delivery.

While seeming to be beneficial, there are risks to this direction. What is popular today may not be tomorrow. Just look at Netscape and AOL (plus tons of other leading firms) whose popularity was eclipsed by new entrants. Marketing focused technology solutions designed and delivered smartly are truly a destabilizing and enabling force in the marketplace.

So what is an organization to do?

My advice is to simply do both -- maintain the corporate or brand presence, but extend the reach and frequency of the conversation. Use the social media platforms to provide value with "real-time" content and perhaps conversations. However, keep in mind that it is important to ensure those who do not Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn can still engage and be engaged with the brand.

Today, brands need more than a "push/pull" strategy to engage and retain their most loyal customers. They must bring the message to the place(s) where the customer resides online and in the near future, to their device of choice.

Yesterday (or it seems like yesterday) it was all about MySpace, today it is Facebook.

Thoughts on tomorrow?

Promotion Trends - Like Fashion, Everything Old is New Again

In the early 1960’s a Broadway show came out, followed by the movie with the same title “Stop the World - I Want to Get Off”. Haven’t we all felt this way at one time or another, just Stop The World and let us catch our breath on what is happening around us; but we cannot, the evolution of time keeps marching on in a circle of life “La Ronde” (the round), from birth to death the same cycle repeats itself since the beginning of time. Sure, we have improved the quality of life through science, medicine, and technology; which subsequently has impacted our working conditions, retirement packages, and vacation travel. But the basic circle of life continues.

We in the promotion industry are caught up in a similar cycle which I call the “promotional cycle of life”. If we look back to the early 1960’s, the cradle of civilization for the promotion industry, there were but a handful of promotional agencies, trying to discover new and effective ways to promote promotional concepts. We at Marden-Kane came up with an idea of placing a thin layer of latex ink on a piece of paper and an instant win game was created, was this a flash in the pan…..hardly… almost 40 years later every state lottery is using this concept to generate billions of dollars in revenue.

In the early days of television the networks were dying for programming. Quiz shows started popping up like; the $64,000 Question, Twenty One, Password and Let’s Make a Deal, then within 10 years they faded. Fast forward to today, Password is back bigger than ever, Deal or No Deal is a mainstay at NBC, and the Price is Right has been running for over 20 years, in fact currently a whole Game Show Network has been created and operating.

To gain greater viewership in television, Watch and Win Programs were developed. Today this Watch and Win technique has translated to Text Messaging and Public Voting utilizing the Internet.

So the need to Stop the World today is not necessary, just look into our bank of 50 years of promotional innovations…..Yes ….. Good ideas never grow old


Post via Marden-Kane guest blogger, Paul Goldman EVP & Partner. Paul can be reached at Paul@MardenKane.com.

Is Social Media Free?

There has been a lot of discussion with clients about the value of integrating Social Media into promotion plans. Some clients believe that since all the tools are widely available ("free"), that the efforts around Social Media should be provided for "free". This is where the disconnect often starts. While clients are correct in stating that creating a Facebook Fan Page, or Blog, or Twitter presence is relatively easy, they often forget that those efforts often need to be maintained / monitored on a 24/7/365 basis. Clients need to guide the agency on what they want their Social Media presence to be (or not to be) prior to jumping into this medium. Clients who utilize their Social Media presence for promotional activities or customer service inquiries need real-time resources (and possibly in-country resources) behind those efforts. For instance, while observing Dunkin Donuts most recent Facebook sweepstakes, I was curious if Dunkin responded to the myriad of questions Fans asked on products, store hours, locations, etc. If the Fans did not get a response back (or did not get the proper response), would they no longer be customers? A campaign is no longer "turn-key" when the participant can respond in a real time manner and tell their friends, who in turn tell their friends, and so on, and so on, and so on....

Loyalty programs rise as the economy declines …

Participation in loyalty programs is on the rise, a sign that consumers are looking to make the money they spend work harder to stretch household budgets. Consumers clearly see the value in program participation and continue to leverage their activity seeking added value and using rewards to stretch dollars. According to Jupiter Research, more than 75 percent of consumers now have at least one loyalty card, and the number of people with two or more is estimated to be one-third of the shopping population. The greatest engagement increase is among 18 to 25 years old. This same group, were also most likely to enroll in rewards via new media mediums (social networking and text messaging).

Currently experiencing the upside of loyalty programs are Grocery and FoodService establishments such as Q Mart Marketplace, Albertson's, Brookshire's, H-E-B, and Winn-Dixie. In addition, Qdoba mobilized their loyalty program making activation easier and Wal-Mart has become more relevant to its Hispanic customers.

Brands, marketers and retailers alike have all been hard hit in this recession and are striving to find that silver lining within this never-ending storm. One thing we can all agree upon is that it is vital that we offer our customers a high level of service and convenience. Therefore, loyalty initiatives offered to customers who are eager to join programs, build relationships with their favorite brands and engage with new media channels may be our silver lining and the key to new revenue growth. Who doesn’t want to experience more frequent visits by regular customers, bigger average transactions, better margins and a stream of new faces drawn to attractive deals.

Starbucks Free Pastry Day

Kudos to Starbucks (and not because they are a Marden-Kane client) on their recent Social Media efforts (and wins!). While Brands (and Agencies) are assessing the available platforms and their go-to-market strategies, Starbucks is walking the walk, and in a relatively short time frame.

In today's economic climate where "gourmet" coffee could be considered a luxury, Starbucks is using Social Media to drive relevancy and loyalty for the brand and the in-store experience. From the free ice cream coupon (delivered using an Instant Win Game platform) to today's Free Pastry Day coupon (print and mobile versions), their efforts have been smart.

Don't take my word for it, just look at their 3.5 million Facebook Fans and the references in Social Media blogs such as Mashable - http://mashable.com/2009/07/21/starbucks-free-pastry-day/. A quick Google search for Starbucks Free Pastry returned over 250,000 search results. Furthermore, Starbucks was named the most engaged brand in a report recently issued by Wetpaint/Altimeter Group (available at www.ENGAGEMENTdb.com).

How did they do it?

From what I can glean, they first did their homework by listening and responding to their customers. They turned this feedback into new products and opportunities to drive deeper relationships with customers. They gave customers a reason to engage in two-way conversations. Most importantly though, they had organizational support coupled with top-down champions in leadership.

I will be curious to see how these efforts impact the bottom line and what the respective ROI's are, but am reminded that repeated tactics (or what Paul Slovak the Marden-Kane COO refers to as Catalysts) are required to acquire and retain share of consumers wallets.

A Seat at the Table

As most promotion professionals will attest, no two promotions are created the same. Even a "simple" sweepstakes has unique variables, such as:

• Relevancy to target audience
• Duration
• Prize pool
• Seasonal factors
• Means of entry
• Awareness vehicles
• Mobile
• Social Media extensions....

Too often, clients ask "how will our promotion do?" when the concept has been fully baked (by others) and collateral is about to hit the marketplace. As such, it is important that clients engage their promotion partners at the earliest phases of the planning process (e.g., ideation, brainstorm, etc.) and include them on discussions on possible media tactics / mediums.

While the industry has yet to provide meaningful benchmarks to help derive promotion success (due to what I believe is the hesitancy on clients to provide proprietary data), promotion agencies (such as Marden-Kane) have the implementation experience (and battle scars) to help guide the discussion.

In presentations to clients, I always include a "Field of Dreams" slide to remind clients that just because you launch a promotion, that in and of itself, will not guarantee participation. Clients need to utilize available media (paid and unpaid) and tools to drive awareness for what is really a brief moment in time. Technology has enabled brands to bring the promotion to where their target resides (think Facebook Fan Pages). Furthermore, viral extensions, such as virtual branded gifts (with embedded content), can help engage your target audience and prompt pass along to friends and family.

Promotions do not need to be complicated. They just need to be relevant , timely and smartly executed.